Self-publishing is a scary yet exciting prospect. From going straight onto Amazon’s KDP to pursuing a plan with self-publisher houses, making the right decision on your manuscript and where you want to take it can be a bit overwhelming. I wanted to share my experience with self-publishers for my upcoming collection and share with you why I made the decision I made.

For starters, I reached out to three different options, who I will not name for the fire I am about to unleash (just kidding, it’s not so bad). To find these houses, you can search on Google for “publishers of x” (in my case, poetry) and find a few databases that can determine best fits. I heard back nearly immediately from all three that I had reached out to and was quickly thrust into email chains and phone calls. It was a very rushed experience from the jump.

The three options I picked from each seemingly had a multitude of options to also narrow down. One offered 5-6 different plans and most shockingly, all offered quotes immediately. Now, one key difference between traditional publishers and self-publishing houses is the way authors are paid (or rather pay) for services. Instead of a collaboration, it’s more of an investment. Many offered 100% royalties, but upfront costs felt excessive.

The one option I was considering the most was ranged into four digits (as almost every option I received was), but even this had it’s problems. Firstly, as with the other options, all three houses “approved” of my manuscript. Personally, I’m not sure how rigorous this testing was, but I did receive answers fairly quickly, with the exception of one taking around 24-48 hours. You might be thinking approvals are a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. It means that they are willing to post your work…if your willing to pay and shoulder all the risks/losses to come.

My collection is young adult, 18+ and most detrimentally, poetry. These are all signs of an exodus from mass market appeal, and yet all three approved with only minor points (or even no points) of constructive critique at this initial stage. The offers ranged from straight up publishing on Amazon (something very possible as an independent publisher) to luxury marketing/PR offers that were exorbitant in retail (but in the case I’m referring to, discounted heavily).

The main point of advice I’d give to aspiring writers looking to publish is to be careful. Really think about how well your manuscript can appeal to mass audiences and take advantage of the resources houses like this can give. Go into it not looking to bend, but instead looking for the perfect fit or none at all. There’s no reason to push an oval into a circle; if it’s not perfect, back off.

That’s why I decided to roll with purely self-publishing through Amazon for my next book. Sure, it’s more work and time needed for promo, setup and all things needed to ensure the book is publishable to begin with. But, it’s also free or significantly cheaper than houses who have to pay for the folks they have in house, plus profit. I don’t think these houses are scammers or crooks. Far from it, and I think people may disagree with me here. But I do think they oversell their services, and I do think, unless you absolutely need services like this, to avoid them when you can’t take FULL advantage of their offerings AND think breaking-even or profit is likely.

Hope this helps those looking to publish but don’t have the pedigree for an agent to partner you up with more established and collaborative publisher structures. Feel free to reach out to me @florsjkevin on Twitter or comment below with any questions/special cases you may have.

Have a great rest of your day, and stay tuned on my new collection, coming out December 2022.